anerkanntevsanerkanntenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“anerkannte” and “anerkannten” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#9,845
“anerkannte” frequency rank
#10,036
“anerkannten” frequency rank
19881
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature anerkannte anerkannten
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs anerkannt Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs anerkannt

Where the eye mixes anerkannte and anerkannten

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 10 letters in sequence. anerkannte runs 10 letters (VCVCCVCCCV) against anerkannten's 11 (VCVCCVCCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

10 ch
anerkannte
11 ch
anerkannten

Why the eye confuses anerkannte with anerkannten

A purely visual mix-up. anerkannte ([ˈanʔɛɐ̯ˌkantə]) and anerkannten ([ˈanʔɛɐ̯ˌkantn̩]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “anerkannte” sits inside “anerkannten”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 19881, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

anerkannte is recorded at frequency rank #9,845, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈanʔɛɐ̯ˌkantə]. anerkannten is at rank #10,036, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈanʔɛɐ̯ˌkantn̩].

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 19881, this pair ranks #1,903,618 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of anerkannte vs anerkannten

Shared letters: aeknrt. Private to "anerkannte": -. Private to "anerkannten": -.

"anerkannte" · 10 letters · shape VCVCCVCCCV  ·  "anerkannten" · 11 letters · shape VCVCCVCCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • anerkannteaenrkannte · anekrannte · aneraknnte · anerkannet · anerkanntte · anerkante · anerkantne · anerkkannte
  • anerkanntenaenrkannten · anekrannten · aneraknnten · anerkannetn · anerkanntenn · anerkanntne · anerkanntten · anerkanten

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "anerkannte" and "anerkannten" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈanʔɛɐ̯ˌkantə] versus [ˈanʔɛɐ̯ˌkantn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "anerkannte" vs "anerkannten" - which ranks higher?
"anerkannte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,845 in our German list, against #10,036 for "anerkannten". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "anerkannte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "anerkannten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,903,618 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "anerkannte" and "anerkannten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "aberkannt vs anerkannte". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #1,903,618 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list